Preschool / Casa (2 ½ years to 6 years)​

Children reach a stage in which repetition and manipulation of the environment are critical to the development of concentration, coordination, independence, and a sense of order. The child learns the skills of everyday living – sorting, grading, and classifying – all of which leads to development of writing, reading, and a mathematical mind.We provide daily written charts and verbal communication to keep you informed about every part of your child’s day (i.e. toileting, napping and feeding). We seek to provide our parents peace of mind and build mutual respect between our parents and caregivers.Practical LifeActivities include sweeping, pouring, polishing, care of one's self (independence, dressing frames), food preparation and dish washing, as well as basic exercises of grace and courtesy. Through these exercises, children develop muscular coordination, enabling movement and exploration of their surroundings, concentration, and the persistence to complete a cycle of work. Children enjoy choosing and performing these new and exciting activities, lengthening their attention span and developing concentration as they work with them repeatedly. The exercises instill a respect for self, for others, and the environment.SensorialThese exercises refine sense perception and basic spatial and dimensional relationships. Children build cognitive skills and by using self-correcting materials how to order and classify impressions by touch, sight, smell, taste, sound, and exploring the physical properties of the environment. The Montessori materials utilized include knobbed cylinders, brown stairs, pink towers, geometric solids, geometric cabinet, constructive triangles, color boxes, and more.LanguageTactile sandpaper letters introduce the children to letter shapes and phonics, and lead them naturally to read and spell. The scope of work includes three letter phonetic words, phonograms, sentences, and paragraphs, utilizing series of materials such as the movable alphabet, command cards, and nomenclature cards. Language development is vital to human development, and the Montessori environment is rich in oral language opportunities that allow the children to experience conversation, stories, and poetry.MathematicsConcrete mathematical concepts are introduced with a variety of materials that enable the child to understand numbers, quantities, and symbols as well as comprehending numbers as a decimal system. Children begin to learn 1 through 100, work with number rods, sandpaper numbers, spindle boxes, cards and counters, and sequin boards. Later, the concept of basic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are introduced using decimal materials where the children focus on place values of units, tens, hundreds, and thousands.Botany and ZoologyActivities provide more vocabulary enrichment opportunities for students as they explore the plant and animal kingdoms. Their introduction to these realms begins with recognition and naming of common plants and animals in their own environment, eventually moving on to encompass other continents of the world. Subsequently, the children learn about different vertebrates: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Trees, plants, flowers and their various parts are examined, and children learn to start caring for plants and animals.History and GeographyThe concept of time is presented by studying the days of the week, months of the year, the calendar, and a child's personal timeline. The children are presented with the sandpaper and colored globes as introductory lessons to the study of the earth. After studying land and water forms, they progress to puzzle maps of our continents and countries, studying North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica. They will then study the flags of the world.FrenchFrench is part of our curriculum and starts by teaching preschool/casa children the basics. It involves things that they are already familiar with in the English language and things they can easily relate to. For example, words for the calendar, colors, numbers, alphabet, foods and family members and friends. The more the children use the language, the more comfortable and familiar they will become with it. Using the language directly using picture cues will lay a strong foundation for further French language study. A qualified French teacher will be on hand once a week to provide French lessons to your children.MusicChildren enjoy gathering together to learn new songs, sing old favourites, and play age appropriate instruments, music games, dance, perform finger plays and use colourful puppets. These exercises also enhance the learning environment. Listening to music in the classroom helps students be more productive and fosters the “joy of learning”. Children will learn to appreciate a variety of music, its significance to different people, and will increase their language and math development. An assortment of flash cards is also utilized within the music program to build on the children's language foundation. Music and movement activities will further be enhanced through a certified music teacher who will be on hand to provide to further enhance your child’s musical experiences.ComputersOur Computer Program will give children an opportunity to learn basic computer skills and to interact with a variety of educational programs, such as reading and number skill software. Parental control measures will be installed on all computers. Children will use computers side-by-side or when they work with the teachers. In these situations, children develop cooperative problem-solving skills, education skills. They also have the opportunity to interact with others, which enhances their overall learning, self-esteem and self-confidence.